Anti Heroes

[Jam The Man]

Following on from this seasons' excellent match day programme feature about Albion cult heroes, how about next season, Spencer Vignes (excellent writer imo) tracks down those who never quite became fan favourites...but unforgettable nonetheless.

Such as.....
Andy Kennedy
Mark Farrington
Nicky Rust

Dare I say it...worst player ever Ashley Neal?

Let's be fair about it, there are loads to choose from...

 

[Weststander]

April 2006 1-5 home defeat vs non-PL-Stoke. Side contained Nicolas, Reid, Frutos & Noel-Williams. Would any of them rival A.Neal?

 

[Jam The Man]

April 2006 1-5 home defeat vs non-PL-Stoke. Side contained Nicolas, Reid, Frutos & Noel-Williams. Would any of them rival A.Neal?

LOL.. possibly, but no-one was quite so bad as Ashley Neal

 

[Austrian Gull]

Around the same time as Ashley Neal, our strikeforce of David Adekola and Christer Warren.

I've never seen a more feeble forward pairing.

 

[Gonzo]

Stuart Tuck

 

[Simster]

Peter Smith

 

[Ernest]

Dick Tight

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Around the same time as Ashley Neal, our strikeforce of David Adekola and Christer Warren.

I've never seen a more feeble forward pairing.

Correct!

And sometimes Phil Andrews. Give him his due he knew where the goal was though because he could see it. Getting anywhere near it was another thing. Getting near it with the ball was an enitirely different concept. Getting the ball to go anywherenear it was beyond comprehension.

Good idea though! For the prog I mean; not selecting Andrews.

 

[Rodney Thomas]

Stuart Tuck

Give over!

 

[severnside gull]

Correct!

And sometimes Phil Andrews. Give him his due he knew where the goal was though because he could see it. Getting anywhere near it was another thing. Getting near it with the ball was an enitirely different concept. Getting the ball to go anywherenear it was beyond comprehension.

Good idea though! For the prog I mean; not selecting Andrews.

sounds like a description of a more recent member of the (non) strikers list - Chris Holroyd

 

[Tubby Mondays]

sounds like a description of a more recent member of the (non) strikers list - Chris Holroyd

He was worse than that.

In fact Holroyd was better than Warren, Adekola and Andrews put together!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

April 2006 1-5 home defeat vs non-PL-Stoke. Side contained Nicolas, Reid, Frutos & Noel-Williams. Would any of them rival A.Neal?

None of them would be REMOTELY close to being on Ashley's level.

Gifton Noel-Williams, was a robust journeyman centre-forward - like a decent Mark McCammon. We'd have signed him, but his knees were in pieces.
Alex Frutos had some abililty but was lightweight.
Alexis Nicolas was a competent midfielder, as you'd expect with a Chelsea background, but nothing more.
Paul Reid was a really good right midfielder, relative to the level we were at, and in my opinion should never have been allowed to leave when he was.

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Even given what Ive written; I want to make it clear that Ashley Neal is by and away the worst player I have seen at this football club. The team at the arse end of 1996 with Case in charge was unbeleivably bad!

 

[Simster]

Even given what Ive written; I want to make it clear that Ashley Neal is by and away the worst player I have seen at this football club. The team at the arse end of 1996 with Case in charge was unbeleivably bad!

In 20 years time there will be kiddies on here asking "who is your all time worst Albion player" and the answers will probably be of the standard of, say, Toby Adgestein.

Ashley Neal couldn't even run properly, and the shittest forward I have ever seen playing professional football (Michael Mahoney-Johnson) didn't look remotely threatening against the only other team in the league worse than us, who were basically a pub team.

 

[severnside gull]

None of them would be REMOTELY close to being on Ashley's level.

Gifton Noel-Williams, was a robust journeyman centre-forward - like a decent Mark McCammon. We'd have signed him, but his knees were in pieces.
Alex Frutos had some abililty but was lightweight.
Alexis Nicolas was a competent midfielder, as you'd expect with a Chelsea background, but nothing more.
Paul Reid was a really good right midfielder, relative to the level we were at, and in my opinion should never have been allowed to leave when he was.

Don't recall seeing Andrews play but I would rate all of those as being perfectly competent in their day and at the level we were playing. Certainly don't belong anywhere near a list of our worst players.

I do recall watching Ashley Neal and thinking that even in my forties and four stone overweight I should have had more chance of earning a living as a footballer than he did! Truly abysmal and I'm struggling to think of worse.
However, old timers like me might recall one of the most wasted talents ever to have appeared in an Albion shirt, Brian Dear. Skilful and with an eye for goal he was a real talent. The only problems....he ate too much, he drank too much, he smoked too much, he couldn't be arsed to train, and he really didn't give a monkeys about being a footballer when there were other things in life that were clearly less arduous and at which he was equally adept (the forementioned drinking for example). The fat little fucker wasted what should have been a sparkling career which for someone like me who would have given anything to be out there on the Goldstone pitch, was near criminal